When it comes to marketing your brand and products, you would always choose platforms where your target audience spends more of their time. Facebook has over 2.23 billion monthly active users. Twitter has around 336 million users. LinkedIn has around 500 million users. There are half a dozen more social media sites that have hundreds of millions of monthly active users between them. An average smartphone user spends more than an hour every day on one or more of these social media sites. With such a high level of user engagement, it is not difficult to see why social media is an important marketing factor for your business.

There are even more reasons why social media is such an important digital marketing factor.

1. Generate Targeted Traffic

Engaging social media posts are highly effective in driving targeted traffic to your website or landing pages. Social media networks have billions of users and a well-designed marketing strategy can drive an unprecedented volume of traffic to your website.

Social media has become almost a necessity for people. And websites like Facebook and Twitter make it easy for you to target users based on their demographics and interests. You can categorise users based on various factors and ensure that your brand is promoted to the right audience.

2. Improved Brand Recognition & Loyalty

Social media allow your prospects to access your business with ease. And it makes your brand seem more familiar to your existing customers, thus boosting brand recognition. Studies also show that social networking sites also improve brand loyalty. Users who follow your brand are highly likely to be loyal to you.

A brand starts gaining increased recognition once people start noticing it on social media. Whether you are a new or an existing brand, social media sites help you earn your voice in the market.

3. Deeper Insights

Social media helps you gain valuable insights into what your customers need. You can learn about your audience’s interests and plan the right steps to approach them with your marketing messages. Not only can you observe the comments made by your target audience on your page, you can also target ads based on factors that help determine your audience. You can keep an eye on competitor practices and improve upon them.

Social media allows you to collect data about how people are interacting with your brand. The patterns, trends, and relevant reports can help you build a better marketing strategy.

4. Influence on SEO

Social media signals are regarded as important ranking elements in search engine algorithms. Thus, having a strong presence on social media sites can also have a positive impact on your SEO. Even when Google hasn’t acknowledged it, many marketers have noticed the influence of social media activities on search engine rankings.  If your social media profiles gain more positive interaction from your fans and followers, it can send strong signals to Google ranking algorithms, thus boosting your rankings.

The platform has become bigger than ever and allows easier access to valuable information. There are many tools that provide you valuable insights into relevant data. Thus, there are many ways in which social media plays an important role in your marketing strategy.

Thomas Web Designs can help you to set up your social media for your business and provide you with the best options for posting. https://thomaswebdesigns.com.au/socialmediamanagement/

There are many reasons people want to start a blog. Even when there an underlying goal for monetisation, it is the pursuit of creativity and a strong passion that drive most people towards blogging. Launching and setting up a blog can be a confusing task if you don’t know about the steps involved. This guide introduces you to the basic steps and the most important steps you should be taking to start your blog.

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.

Basic Steps

The basic steps to creating a blog are as follows:

• Choose a blog name
• Get the blog online by registering and getting it hosted
• Create your blog. Usually, you will be using a template
• Write and publish your blog posts
• Monetise your blog

While there are many steps in between, there are 3 important areas that are extremely important to address. These areas can be addressed by using the following 3 steps:

1. Choose the Blog Name

When choosing your blog name, you should start by choosing the right topic. Consider these points to come up with the topic:

• Your Experience: Whether it’s your professional or life experience, you can create a blog around those experiences. The blog name can be focused on your experience and sharing your knowledge can be helpful to others.
• Personal Blog: You may create a blog that is focused on you and your daily experiences.
• Hobbies & Interests: If you are passionate about an interest such as traveling, cooking, sports or other things, you can name your blog accordingly.

When you have determined the topic of your blog, it will become easier to choose the blog name. When creating the blog name, you should make it descriptive so that it is easy to understand what the blog is about. It is also recommended to include the topic name in the blog name. When it comes to a personal blog, you can use your own name or a variation of it. When you purchase the hosting for your blog we will also show you how to purchase your blog name below.

2. Host Your Blog Online

It will be required to get your blog online and this may seem to be a more technical aspect. However, the process has become simpler than ever before. A web hosting service will usually provide both blog hosting service and the blogging program within the same package. Major hosting services provide the following benefits:

• Your blog name will be registered to ensure that you will own it
• A simple and free installation of the blogging software, usually WordPress
• Customer service and technical support that is available around the clock

I recommend you purchase your domain name and hosting through Site ground- https://thomaswebdesigns.com.au/siteground Pick the basic web hosting which is normally $4.95 per month to start, also obtain your domain name through here. Besides your domain registration, I would avoid worrying about their extra add on services at this stage unless you want to. Once your domain name and hosting is installed and you are logged in to your siteground account you can go ahead and install WordPress, a free theme and start designing your website.

3. Monetisation

Even if you have created your blog for your interests or for sharing your knowledge, monetising it can help you sustain it. Once your blog starts generating lots of traffic, it will become easier to monetise it. And there are many ways in which you can do so.

Some of the popular methods include the following:

• Google AdSense
• Product reviews
• Selling products/services
• Affiliate marketing
• Sponsored posts

You can also allow your followers to make donations to support your blog. You can use a combination of these strategies to monetise your blog. Another way to generate income is to have paid placements that involve selling space on your site. Plus you can offer products or services you want to sell online that you make, you purchase at a wholesale rate or you can dropship items.

You can join our FREE Community group https://thomaswebdesigns.com.au/my-community/  to get more help and support with your new blog post.

Creating a WordPress website is an excellent decision for your business. You will, however, have to do a lot than just setting up a site to benefit from it. This involves regular maintenance and updates so that your website continues to deliver a great experience and remains secure. There are many reasons why you are going to need the help of a professional service to maintain and update your WP site. Find out the different reasons.

1. Let the Professionals Handle It

WordPress is considered to be pretty simple to handle. Once your website has been designed and set, your web designing team can guide you on how to update and maintain it. WordPress is still a CMS and it requires some good amount of knowledge to do everything right. Most website owners are concerned about dealing with updates, plugins, backups, and other aspects of their WP site. If you are worried about doing something wrong, you should consider letting the professionals handle the maintenance and update aspects of your site. Getting help can also ensure that you are avoiding costly errors.

2. Updating Information

If a website should maintain its relevance, it should be updated with new and relevant information as and when needed. For example, you may want to add new products and images. You may either not know how to update the content on your site or you may be afraid that you may not be able to do it properly. The last thing you want is to make your website look like it has been put up by someone unprofessional.

There are many reasons you may want to update your website, including:

• Implementing new marketing strategies
• Adding a new checkout process
• Adding new customer service features (live chat) to your site
• Add a page about a special sale or an event
• Provide information about special offers and discounts

At the same time, it is also important to keep your website content fresh to boost your search engine rankings. You can consider adding a blog to your WP site. Maintaining the blog is also going to need professional help.

3. Save Valuable Time

No matter whether you are an expert with WordPress or not, you are going to need professional help if you want to focus on running your business. Most business owners don’t have the time or energy to regularly update their website.

Running a business involves much more than maintaining your site. You have to take care of sales, marketing, operations, and other aspects of your business. Considering all the tasks you have to handle every day, it is highly likely that your site’s maintenance is going to fall behind.

Thus, there are many reasons why you should hire a professional service to maintain and update your WordPress site. Your site is important to your business depending on your business model. When you have someone to take care of it, you will have peace of mind that all different parts of your business are being taken care of.

Check out our ongoing website maintenance packages. 

One of the main aspects of maintaining your WordPress website is to ensure that the themes and plugins are updated regularly. There are many reasons in which these updates are essential.  In addition to adding features, updates can mean fixing bugs, improving site reliability, and improving security. So it is recommended to apply all updates at the earliest they are available. However, there are certain points to be kept in mind when determining how often to update the plugins and themes.

General Recommendation

It is usually recommended to update the themes and plugins once a month. Besides keeping your site safe and protected from malware attacks and hackers, this can also help ensure that the themes and plugins are compatible with each other.

Failing to update regularly can make your site vulnerable to potential attacks and incompatibilities.

Check the Plugin’s Changelog

While once a month is the recommended frequency for updating your site’s plugins and themes, it may be required to make even more frequent updates. Sometimes plugins can have critical security updates that need to be applied immediately. You can check for these updates from within the theme or plugin’s changelog.

If you find a critical security update, such as WordPress version updates, then you should implement it right away. Otherwise, it is recommended to wait for a couple of weeks before updating non-critical updates.

Reasons for Waiting to Update

There is an important reason for waiting for a few weeks before applying a normal update. If the update has a bug, it is highly likely to be detected and fixed within the first two weeks of the release.

So when you delay an update by two weeks, it will mean that you will not have to face any issues that may arise due to a bug in the update itself. You will be able to implement an update that is error-free. This means lesser hassles and more time savings.

Test an Update

If you notice an update that should be applied immediately, you can test it first using a staging environment. Many times there are updates with features or bug fixes which need to be installed right away. You can talk to your hosting provider about a staging environment and you should make the most of it – even for small updates.

Once you have tested an update and are certain that it is bug-free, you can go ahead and apply it. Make sure your site is already backed up even if you are running the update as a test.

So, the next time you see the new plugin or theme update sign, you should consider whether you need the update right away. If it is not a critical security update, you should wait for at least a week before any issues are detected and addressed. It is better to learn from the experience of other users than having to troubleshoot your site. I

Don’t feel you are techy enough to update plugins regularly yourself?

Then have a look at our website maintenance packages.

Keywords continue to be important to search engine optimisation. Search engines still rely on keywords to determine user intent and context. So you cannot ignore the importance of keywords when you want to improve your SEO. So how do you choose the right keywords for your website?  

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.

Searching for the Right Keywords

It is important to choose your keywords for different web pages even before you start creating the content. Keep the following points in mind when you start your search for the keywords:

• Choose the most relevant keywords that describe your web pages.
• Consider the value of the keywords from a commercial perspective.

Use keyword research tools to find the most relevant keywords. Choose one primary keyword and at least two secondary keywords for each page. When choosing the right keywords, it is important to set the perfect balance between relevance and commercial perspective.

Use the Right keyword Research Tool

There are many keyword research tools that provide you with valuable keyword data and help you find the right keywords. Some of the most popular tools include:

• • Google AdWords Keyword Planner
  • Ahrefs
  • SEMrush
  • Answer the Public
  • SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool
  • Uber Suggest
  • Keyword tool

These tools provide you information such keyword search volume, keyword value, ranking difficulty, and competition amongst others.

Choose Long Tail Keywords

It is also recommended to use long tail keywords along with the secondary keywords. You will notice that some of the most productive keywords for your webpages don’t have large search volume. Users searching for long-tail keywords are more specific and focused on what they are looking for. This is different from short keywords.

When someone searches for short keyphrases, they are mostly in the early phase of their research. As they gather more information, they are going to become more specific. This is where the long-tail keywords come into the picture. So when you choose and optimise your pages for long-tail keyphrases, you are going to draw searchers who are close to conversion.

Your Website’s Competitive Power

Your website has a competitive power, which is a measure of the site to compete in your search engine results pages (SERPs). Choose keywords that have a competition score that is close to your site’s competitive power. Most keyword research tools come with competition filter that allows you to refine the results.

Choosing the Best Keywords

Once you have a list of keywords that are relevant for your website, it will be required to sort and filter them for creating your optimised content. Keep filtering and sorting keywords based on factors like:

• Your goals
• Relevance
• Competition
• Popularity

The tools can also allow you to filter and show keywords with a specific phrase. When you find the right keywords, save them. Once you have a list of the best keywords, you should start creating your content around the webpages’ topics whilst optimising with the most relevant keywords.

So follow these tips to find and use the right keyword for your website. Keyword research is going to take time, but all that effort is certainly going to pay in terms of your site’s search rankings.

Download our FREE Keyword Research Template, simply join our FREE community hub to grab this today.

There are many reasons why WordPress is the most popular CMS (website content management system). One reason is that it offers hundreds of free website themes. But with so many options, it can be confusing to choose the ideal theme. Here is a list of top 5 free WordPress themes that I believe offer almost everything you may need to design a powerful and elegant website.

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.

1. AccessPress Lite

AccessPress Lite is arguably considered as the most feature-rich free theme available for WordPress. This is a responsive theme that stands out for its clean and professional design. It offers features similar to premium themes without a price tag. This includes:

• A wide range of layouts – gallery, portfolio, blog, team-member, multiple homepage, sidebar, and testimonials among others
• Social media integration
• Quick contact
• Full-width slider
• Call to action

And much more. This WP theme is compatible with WooCommerce, bbPress, and multiple browsers. It is SEO optimised and supports several language translations.

2. Flash

Flash WordPress Theme is considered as the most powerful free business theme. It is highly flexible and can be used for a wide range of purposes. If you are looking to design a modern website, this responsive theme is the ideal option. It offers many features which are hard to find in a free WP theme. This includes:

• Drag & Drop Site Builder: This built-in, easy-to-use tool is hard to find among free themes.
• Flash Toolkit Plugin: This unique plugin works with more than half a dozen widget areas for a better-organised layout and interface.
• Layout Areas: There are specific areas for testimonials and team-member details that can be adjusted as per your needs. Filterable Portfolio: There is an advanced, filterable portfolio that allows you to showcase your work in an elegant and well-organised manner.

3. Shapely

Shapely is another amazing free WP theme that focuses on improving the process of web development. It combines beautiful graphics with practical elements to allow you to create the perfect WordPress website. This responsive theme supports high-resolution Retina display, which means you can include crisp and clear vector icons, text, and graphics on your website.

This is a highly versatile WP theme and can be used in different industries. It allows your site to be compatible with all the commonly used WordPress plugins including:

• Yoast SEO
• Contact Form 7
• Gravity Forms
• Google Analytics

Or create a powerful online store using WooCommerce. When you choose this theme, there is no need to deal with any coding.

4. Customify

Customify, as the name suggests, is a highly flexible WP theme. It allows full customisation and can be used with Divi, Elementor and Beaver Builder. It provides an easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor that simplifies the process of creating beautiful and functional headers and footers.

Some of the main features of this free WordPress theme are as follows:

• Advanced header/footer builder
• Offers premium modules
• Responsive edit modules
• Page builder compatible
• Helps create ready-to-import websites
• The visual editor delivers real-time results

And the free theme is optimised for SEO and speed.

5. Anariel Lite

This free WordPress theme is ideally suited for small businesses and bloggers looking for a theme with a clean layout. It has both classic and modern elements with focus on content. Feature multiple blog posts on the home page with images.

The free theme offers multiple typography options. It is not only responsive, it is also Retina ready helping ensure that your website renders effectively and efficiently on smartphones. There are many other features that make it just the perfect WordPress theme:

• Multiple Layouts: Grid layout, sidebars, and boxed layout.
• Google Fonts: This font comes along with various shortcodes and social integrations.
• Rich Posts: You can also create audio/video posts using this theme.
• Preconfigured Blocks: Blocks like About Us, Instagram, and Quote blocks help you save development time.

Download Anariel Lite.

So if you are looking for the most popular free WordPress themes, consider these 5 options. They are designed for ease-of-use and come with a wide range of features almost at par with premium WP themes.

However, if you are looking for a highly customizable website theme then Divi by Elegant Themes is still my favorite and I build websites for clients using this if they don’t pick their own theme.